Week 6 - Perspective

We really love working on that sort of thing because just the ability to do our design work in a way that affects the human condition I think is incredibly exciting.

-Justin Ahrens

For an in-depth overview of each weekly slide presentation, please skip below to your specific grade level.

• To see the 1-page Perspective Character Card and share it with your students’ families, click here.

• For the P2 Reflection Journals, used by all elementary students at the end of the week, click here.

Starting Monday, Partner Schools nationwide will begin learning about perspective. Perspective is also referred to as wisdom and is distinct from intelligence. People with this strength are sought out for advice because they see the big picture and can make sense of the world’s complexity. This strength of perspective gives individuals the ability to see to the heart of difficult matters and achieve clarity. Most importantly, they are honest and behave in an ethically consistent manner.

Perspective is usually gained over time, as one accumulates more knowledge and experiences. However, developing perspective is not only a matter of time. It comes from truly listening to others when they talk and working to understand new points of view when reading books, listening to stories, or watching movies.

This week’s character strength example is the team at Rule29, our creative design partners. The self-described “nerds about design and strategy” designed just about everything P2 that you see: our logo, our website, our character strength icons, our weekly slide presentation format, and our brand guidelines — which even include which fonts to use.

The work they do is incredibly important because it allows organizations, like P2, to present themselves clearly, authentically, and consistently. The way they help organizations do this? By asking lots of questions and deeply understanding who we are and why we exist.

As the below video highlights, they deeply understand people: who they are, what they want, and what compels them to act. And, they use that knowledge for good.

So, why is this strength important? Perspective helps an individual make sense of the world. It provides clarity on what matters and what does not. Being able to see things from multiple angles helps individuals remain calm and learn from mistakes; they are typically highly self-aware. Reflecting on their own feelings, thoughts, and motives helps them understand and empathize with other people. These individuals are strong listeners and ask great questions.

On a group level, perspective helps couples, teams, communities, and societies act wisely and correctly. Individuals with the strength of perspective help their group get through difficult or uncertain circumstances because they’re poised and can identify opportunities for success. Moving into an increasingly complex future, the need for individuals with perspective will only increase.

And, as a reminder, you can find all of our weekly slide presentations on our website’s Resources page here. This page is the place that we recommend you go to access all of the resources — not via Google Drive folders.

To find your grade level’s presentation, you can simply type the word “perspective” into the Resource Title search bar or sort by Character Strength and select Teamwork. Each of those options will provide you with 10 slide presentations and one 1-page character card. For a simple overview of the Resources page, with pictures and videos, click here.